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White on Herb Dean: He Made a Mistake Tonight In Faber Stoppage

While Renan Barao looked as dominant as ever in his first-round TKO win over Urijah Faber, many, including Dana White, felt that the stoppage was premature. After getting dropped by Barao multiple times, Faber dove in on one of Barao’s legs and covered up. While most of Barao’s blows appeared to be blocked by Faber’s arm, Faber’s lack of movement was what seemed to prompt veteran referee Herb Dean to stop the fight.

“You know, you’ve heard me up here a million times, talking about Herb Dean, I think he’s the best referee in the business. He rarely makes mistakes, but he made a mistake tonight,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “Faber was blocking those shots, he gave the thumbs up, and, you know, the guy is the best in the business as far as I’m concerned, but tonight he made a mistake.”

Faber, while clearly bothered by the stoppage, stayed professional. “It’s unfortunate, being a guy that’s very tough, and prides myself on that, in a big show like the one we had today, where I don’t get to fight to the bitter end,” Faber said at the presser. “But on the same note, Barao is getting better, and he caught me with a clean punch and went for the kill. I don’t know-when he said ‘intelligently defend yourself,’ I’m holding onto a leg, I’m covering my head, I mean, if they’re asking me to defend myself, I’m already defending myself, I have to do something, so I put my thumb up, but it is what it is… I feel great that we have a great champion, there’s other challenges for me, I’ll just get back on the horse and work my way towards being a champion again.”

0 Responses to “White on Herb Dean: He Made a Mistake Tonight In Faber Stoppage”

His job is to protect the fighters and he does exactly that. He is a great ref and its better to be cautious and protect these fighters than let it go and then someone.get really hurt then they will be on him because he let it go to long. I stand behind herb dean.

do something…..I would classify covering up and avoiding the brunt of the blows as doing something to protect yourself. What’s he supposed to do…..look up at the ref and say he’s fine, and take a shot in the face and go to sleep. Or move from a defensive position, and cause himself to take the brunt of the blows. What Faber was doing was smart, and Barao may have punched himself out had the ref not pointlessly stop it.

He was already covering up, and was told do something. That doesn’t mean, keep getting punched in the arm, or hand, it means do something to improve your position, or I will stop the fight. Would it be any different if Faber were in a Crucifix and being slapped in the face instead of punched? Should we talk about a crime? Lets talk about Alan Patrick getting the nod over Mack.

Dude, Herb Dean doesn’t stand behind Herb Dean on this one. He made a mistake, no biggie but trying to act like it was a good call is just silly. It happens yet acting like it was some “good insight” on Herbs part is dumb imo.

I’ve never seen anybody giving a thumbs up while getting his ass severely whooped. It just does not happen, you are too busy covering up. These are professional fighters and they should have the chance to recover if they are not in an unsafe spot. When someone is hitting your shoulder while you cover up in my opinion does not fit the bill of not being able to defend urself or being at risk. People who try to defend Herbs call by saying better safe then sorry…. This is a fistfight, not a fkn ballet display.

As for Faber getting shots, he earned those mf’ers. If you finish everyone else you get a shot, it’s that somple no?

you don’t watch enough MMA then…. because there’s been plenty of fights where people gives a thumbs up while in a submission or getting ground/pounded to let the ref know they’re fine.

I agree with you on the other points. Faber was covering up and “intelligently” defending himself. The fighters have a choice of tapping physically or verbally and the ref should only stop the fight when one of them is unconscious and unable to tap.

It was a bad stoppage, imagine every fight would be stopped like that no more Trulillo – Varner ko’s no more Sanchez – Melendez etc etc. So I don’t really get how people try to defend such a stoppage, yeah you can come up with some bs arguments that might seem logical but I am pretty sure every legit fight fan was truly dissapointed and flabbergasted and felt a bit robbed from what seemed to be a great match on paper. That fact alone made it a bad stoppage.

Wheter or not Faber could have won or was in trouble or outclassed is not relevant imo. Let the man do his job and put on a fight.

I think the majority are not taking into account, a REF’s job you can hate them as you like, but let’s face it when you’re getting handled the whole fight, would you rather someone make a GOOD call on your behalf and be able to come back to fight another day, or whine about what if’s. Clearly if Faber (who I do like as a fighter) was dominating and got caught, there would have been more consideration to how well and intelligently someone was fighting….even a trained monkey can cover itself, it doesn’t mean you had a chance when you hadn’t throughout the fight. I Believe a good stoppage….as in the past with most good fights, that’s why you have a rematch. I like how Dana White is ran by the media and heavy dollar pockets; it’s amazing how he no longer can stand by his own staff or his fighters any more, way to go sell out!

That was the wrong call faber was recovered on the ground waiting for barao to slow down the hammer fists so he can try to get that single leg. Not one punch on the ground landed on fakers head hew as covered up and defending himself intellegently p. yes he was in what most would call a bad spot. But he was in no danger of getting seriously hurt. Barao was easily winning the first round caught faber with big shots on the feet but faber was intellegently defending himself. This is a fight I want to see again for the simple fact faber got robbed watch the fight again faber was not out of it and recovered during the hammer fists which not one landed horrid stoppage

Yeah bad stop…..You ever hear of covering to not only protect yourself, but to also let someone punch themselves out. Considering he wasn’t taking much damage that could have happened. Many times great fighters weather a storm, let the other fighter wear themselves out, and then when they lose some steam, come back for the victory. If this was supposedly the way it’s done, you haven’t watched Lesnar defeat Carwin, or Ali vs Foreman.

First off Ali was the king of letting big fighters punch themself out. I’m very very educated on the fight game I very much train in different forms of martial arts. I’m telling you that fight was stopped early. When a guy is hitting your arms landing zero damage then yea I have a problem with the stoppage. Was faber hurt yes did he face plant yes was he intelligently diffending himself YES that was a horrid stoppage and the lesnar carwin fight lmao completely different carwin was way more one sided then barao was. Nothing I repeat nothing landed on the ground nothing. Completely different fights and sinarios

He wasn’t getting bombed on a vital part of his body. He was well covered, and not taking much damage. Them bombs that were raining down and doing nothing could have worn down Barao and helped Faber later on. What’s Faber supposed to do, move just to prove a point and start taking damage. You sir, are an idiot.

Are you an idiot or do you just spew garbage every time you talk? One maybe two punches landed the rest were on Fabers hand. What would you like Faber to do? He has his arm wrapped around one leg and trying to protect himself? He can’t just drop the hand and power thru the single leg and if he let go of the single leg barao would’ve been in a lot better position! Would things have changed if herb hadn’t stopped it? I don’t know but Faber didn’t get that chance. He is one of the most durable fighters and he can scrap till the end he should’ve had that chance. What’s done is done, Faber will be back!

What you want him to do pop up and say herb I’m okay he had to protect his head from damage and he was doing that not only did he give the thumbs up but he looked at herb and said I’m good twice bro not one hammer fist landed on fakers head it was all arms hits watch the fight again or maybe it’s just you don’t now what your watching

Bar none bad stoppage. I think it would not have factored the outcome, but it may have. Faber was not taking much damage, and Barao was swinging for the fences. Anybody who seen Carwin vs Lesnar, or Ali vs Foreman know what I’m getting at. In a 5 round fight, all the energy being extended by Barao, could go to Fabers advantage later in the fight, if he survives. A tired fighter can be submitted fairly easily usually. I think Barao’s conditioning is too good for that, but now, since a ref is too blind to see a man getting hit in the shoulder, we will never know.

On another note….I think the UFC is rididng Brazilian cock. Theyll let Dos Santos get destroyed, almost seeming hopeful he can pull off a comeback, but stop over this.

Barao was a beast, as for faber, keep your head up budd and live to fight another day, youre a true champ, as for herb dean, hes a great referee, sadly he made a mistake but it happens, love for herb dean as well

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